Eagles pull plug on training camp at Lehigh

To get to where they want to go, the Eagles feel it’s better to stay home than go to Lehigh University for training camp.

So forget about those family daytrips up the turnpike, the free parking, the fresh air of the mountains and Eagles practices getting you so close to the action you can almost touch the players.

The organization is all business now, having raised ticket prices, spent $30 million on a new head coach and, uh, determined Michael Vick still is their best option at quarterback.

“The interaction with our fans during the training camp period remains a huge priority,” Eagles president Don Smolenski said in a statement. “As such, we are currently planning to utilize the opportunities available to us at Lincoln Financial Field to have a number of open practices available to all of our fans. We’ll announce those specific plans in the coming weeks.”

The Eagles say those Linc practices will be free. They already have a Flight Night, which amounts to a glorified walkthrough. There will be four or five of the practices depending on the schedules of other Philly sports teams and events at the Wells Fargo Center.

Smolenski also said there will be invitation-only opportunities for season ticket holders, sponsors and fans to attend daily practices at the NovaCare Complex. The lease agreement with the city limits the numbers.

Sterrett helped bring the Eagles’ training camp to the campus and turn the three weeks or so into an event.

“It’s sad because it’s been a good relationship for 17 years,” Sterrett said. “They really appreciated the experience, considered it beneficial and want to sustain it in some other way in the future. I fully respect the decision and the way they communicated it. They really feel the new wave of developing players is with using the facilities and the resources they have.”

Smolenski and Sterrett said a lengthy Eagles evaluation determined that the decision to move to the NovaCare Complex made sense because it’s where all of the Eagles’ training resources are, from the MRI machine to the locker room to the video network.

Sterrett also said the Eagles worked with the university to minimize the economic losses as much as possible.

At the last training camp, the late Garrett Reid, the son of former head coach Andy Reid, died of a drug overdose in one of the dormitory rooms at Lehigh. Illegal substances were found in the room and law enforcement, along with the NFL, investigated the matter. No charges have been filed.

Sterrett was told by the Eagles it wasn’t a factor in the decision.

“No question there was a scar,” Sterrett said. “They felt that would be difficult for them wherever training camp was.”

Though the Eagles could always change their mind and decide in the future the home training camp thing isn’t working, Sterrett’s gut sense is that probably won’t happen. While it’s impossible to measure the economic impact of the Eagles’ exodus, Sterrett says it will be “far from zero.”

The Eagles, who once considered themselves the gold standard in the NFL, now have resigned themselves to making decisions based on what the rest of the NFL does. In the released the Eagles stated they became the 21st team to hold training camp at their own facility.

The people at Lehigh U. at least have some stories to show for the long association. No training camp was more popular than the 2004 get-together after the Eagles traded for Terrell Owens. That camp set attendance records, including the one-day mark of more than 25,000.

“That was a crazy day,” Sterrett said. “When T.O. was here, there was energy. For better or worse, there was energy. But the Eagles’ training camp also was the prelude to our football season, and that’s an exciting thing around here. There was always some overlap in the camps. That prelude will be missed.”